Expand Your Horizons with Overseas Studies
Becca Tang is a fourth-year student from the Department of Government and Public Administration and a member of the Honours College (HC). Having just returned from her six-month study trip at Boston College in the United States, Tang feels grateful for the opportunity provided by the HC and describes the experience as an eye-opener . ‘UM provides many learning opportunities for HC students,’ she says. ‘While in the US, I ran into Prof Rose Lai from the Faculty of Business Administration, and because of her, I and several other students from the HC had the privilege of talking to some well-known local scholars.’
Tang says the HC helps her meet people from different backgrounds, and her greatest gain from studying at Boston College is realising that finding a job is not the only option after graduation, as she used to believe. ‘Now I know I can also pursue further studies abroad after graduation,’ she says.
Increase Your Knowledge by Making Use of the Resources
Oscar Ng is a third-year student from the Faculty of Law, majoring in the Bachelor of Law in Chinese Language programme. Ng has a packed schedule, filled with daytime classes, which are mainly taught by full-time professors, and evening classes, which are mostly taught by part-time teachers who are legal practitioners. Many of his teachers are experienced legal experts. They not only provide guidance in studies, but also give advice on how to pursue a career in law after graduation. Through two years of studies, Ng not only has grown more mature, but has also learned to look at things from different perspectives.
Ng makes a habit of using the various learning resources after class to increase his knowledge. For example, he actively attends the lectures by experts invited by his faculty to learn different points of view. A member of Chao Kuang Piu College, Ng is thankful for the college’ s good ambience, abundant resources, and short distance from his faculty and the sports complex, which combine to have a beneficial effect on his studies. The college also arranges for FLL students to live on the same floor with students from the Department of Portuguese, and organises Portuguese classes from time to time. These strategies help to create a very good language learning environment and helped Ng make good progress during the first academic year . This year, Ng will become a residential assistant because he loves event planning. Being a residential assistant allows him to serve his fellow students and entitles him to a 50% reduction of the accommodation fee, which eases the financial burden on his family.
Discover Your Potential by Joining Student Organisations
A Class of 2017 graduate, Chan Ka Long was the last cohort of students to have studied on both the old campus and the new campus. Apart from the classrooms, Chan’s most used resources on campus were the sports facilities. He joined the Track and Field Team in his freshman year , when he was still on the old campus. It was not easy for the team to rent a venue on the old campus, because there was no track and field stadium. As a result, the team had to go to the sports stadium in Taipa for training after class, which was very inconvenient. The situation greatly improved after the university moved to the new campus. Chan was most excited about the track and field stadium with a 400-metre track. He trained in the stadium for an average of five to six times a week. The stadium’s proximity to the Sports Complex also enabled him to practise running after he finished doing gym in the Sports Complex.
Chan describes his four years at UM as ‘rich and fulfilling’. ‘There are many student or ganisations at UM for you to choose from based on your interests. Joining student or ganisations can help you discover your potential, build self-confidence, and know yourself better,’ he says. Apart from being a member of the Track and Field Team, he was also a PR Student Ambassador, and the president of the Sports Association. These experiences not only helped him improve his communication and event or ganisation skills, but also allowed him to make more friends.
Conduct Quality Research with Databases in the Library
Dong Yuekai received his master ’s and doctoral degrees from UM’s Department of Chinese Language and Literature. During his studies at UM, he published a total of 12 papers (including co-authored papers) under the supervision of Prof Tang Keng Pan. Dong’s greatest gain from UM was the realization of the importance of academic exchange. ‘Attending academic conferences allowed me to meet both up-and-coming scholars and established masters,’he says. ‘I have attended conferences in Guangdong, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, and each time I learned something new. I remember once I even had the privilege of chairing a discussion session with the 80-year-old Mr Huang Xunzhai. I will never for get that experience.’
Dong believes UM’s greatest assets include its excellent faculty members, many of whom are leading experts in their fields, as well as the well-stocked library. ‘The library has lots of electronic resources and purchases important databases and academic journals in different languages on a regular basis. Some research data housed in the library can’ t even be found in mainland China or Hong Kong. There are also small study rooms where we often held academic salons for teachers and students to share their findings,’he says.
